Fla. governor to meet with McCain this weekend

MIAMI - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will be Arizona-bound this weekend for a sitdown with other pols who could be on Sen. John McCain's running-mate shortlist.

Joining Crist at McCain's home: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and a handful of others whose names have not been made public.

Crist was mum about what he was doing this weekend, but confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he was attending two fundraisers in New York - one for Republicans and another for an adoption group.

"Then I look forward to a Memorial Day weekend," said Crist, who like McCain has not disclosed his travel schedule for the long weekend.

McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky said the campaign would not discuss the candidate's possible vice-presidential picks or the process for it.

Whether this is even a vice-presidential pow-wow or a simply a meeting with high-level supporters is unclear. Crist and Jindal have both made health care high priority issues. Crist signed a law Wednesday to offer inexpensive health insurance plans and Jindal tapped one of Florida's top health care minds, Alan Levine, to work in his administration.

Because McCain said earlier in the month that he had a list of about 20 running mates, the New York Times, which first reported the weekend McCain meeting, speculated that he's moving at an accelerated pace to pick a running mate.

But Crist advisers and Republican strategists say McCain is probably in no big rush. The Democrats have yet to pick a nominee, who will likely select a running mate first because their party convention comes earlier. Based on that, McCain can then make his pick.

"The governor is probably going to be on a list of three, if not two," said Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer. Greer mentioned South Dakota Sen. John Thune and even former McCain rival Mitt Romney as other potential running mates.

A big reason Crist is on a McCain short list: the popular Republican helped deliver Florida to McCain during the Jan. 29 primary over Romney.

Republicans say McCain can't win the White House if he doesn't win Florida, and recent polls suggest that likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama will have a tough - but not impossible - time carrying the state. Crist's pluses: He's widely viewed as bipartisan, and has successfully pushed for populist issues from affordable health care to making it easier for felons to have their civil rights restored.

But Crist's poll numbers have slipped somewhat in recent months as public sentiment has shifted farther away from Republicans and as he has failed to deliver on promises to have property taxes "drop like a rock."